The ACT has supported proposed improvements to competition and transparency in the gas market and better regulation of gas pipelines at the National Energy Ministers Meeting last week (11 June).
Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Shane Rattenbury said the ACT didn’t support further expansion of the gas sector or the ‘gas-led recovery’ the Federal Government was “pushing”.
“This is the critical decade for climate action and we can’t afford to waste more time and resources on further investment in gas supply or infrastructure,” Mr Rattenbury said.
“In the ACT, we are committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2045 at the latest,” he said.
“Having transitioned to 100 per cent renewable electricity, we are now shifting our focus to phasing out fossil-fuel gas.”
Mr Rattenbury said a unified national approach that clearly outlined a decarbonisation pathway for Australia’s energy sector was needed.
He said that in a world where intermittent energy supplies would dominate, a coordinated energy market was more important than ever.
“We need a strong and coordinated grid that can ensure reliable, affordable supply,” he said.
“The current lack of clear national policy risks splintering the National Electricity Market by forcing a series of localised policies, leading to inefficiencies and delays in the energy transition.”
Mr Rattenbury said the country needed an energy market that was fit for purpose in a carbon-constrained future and the longer the shift to zero emissions energy sources was delayed, the more the economy and society would suffer.
“Further investment in fossil fuels exposes us all to unacceptable climate risks,” he said.
